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Resting in the Sovereignty of God, Pt. 2

Last week, I wrote about resting in the sovereignty of God. One of my hopes was that as you arrived at the end of the writing, you would be asking yourself, “HOW DO I DO THAT? HOW DO I REST IN GOD & HIS SOVEREIGNTY?”

Well, if that’s you…I think that’s a great question! And here’s my response to that question, let’s start by looking at what’s said in Ephesians 2:1-3,

And you were dead in the trespasses & sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body & the mind, & were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Here’s what we realize from these verses: you can’t do it on your own. You will never drift into resting in God or His sovereignty. And why is that? Because of who we are: dead in sin, followers that rebel, living for ourselves, headed for certain destruction. So we quickly realize, we won’t do this ourselves, but then we keep reading in Ephesians 2:4-9,

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—& raised us up with him & seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

After hearing & recognizing the severity of the news in v. 1-3…then you get these great words, “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…”

So how do we rest in God’s sovereignty? It only happens by being alive with Christ! The only people who will ever rest in God’s sovereignty, who will find peace, or comfort, or joy in the sovereignty of God…are those who are in Christ…those who have been saved through faith in Christ, those who’ve staked their ultimate hope on the person & work of Jesus Christ alone. And those who are in Christ are never in Christ because of their own brilliance…but by sheer grace alone. Look at the passage again. Being in Christ is because of God’s love, accomplished by God’s work, done for God’s glory, given by God alone. And because of this news of rescuing grace, look at Ephesians 2:10,

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We just said that the only people who will rest in God’s sovereignty are those who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And that on its own is wonderful news…but there’s more…we come to see that those who rest in God’s sovereignty find that God’s sovereignty delivers them real rest! Because of God’s sovereign grace…Christian: you can walk, you can live freely & confidently for the glory of God. For the one in Christ…you can know that you are made for this purpose: God’s glory.